Dr. O’Riordan earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, and a PhD in immunology from the University of California, San Francisco, where she studied lymphocyte development. Following postdoctoral research in microbial pathogenesis at UC Berkeley, she joined the UM faculty in 2003. O’Riordan’s laboratory focuses on the discovery of molecular mechanisms that control host-pathogen interactions. Her work has been published in Science, Immunity, Cell Host Microbe, PNAS, and other high impact journals. Dr. O’Riordan’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, and recognized by her receipt of the Crohn’s and Colitis Career Development Award, the Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar Award, the ICAAC Young Investigator Award, and an American Cancer Society Scholar Award. At the national level, Dr. O’Riordan has served on review panels for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, and is a standing NIH study section member. She serves on the Editorial Board for Infection & Immunity and Cellular Microbiology, and as Associate Editor for the journal, PLoS Pathogens.

Dr. O’Riordan’s trainees have earned fellowships and awards from the American Heart Association, the American Society for Microbiology, the US Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health. Her contributions to the university teaching mission have been recognized by several teaching awards, including induction into the UM Medical School League of Educational Excellence. During her tenure at UM, Dr. O’Riordan has served on over thirty PhD thesis committees in the Medical School, the School of Pharmacy, and the College of Literature, Science & the Arts, and acted as the graduate chair of the Microbiology & Immunology Graduate Program. She was appointed associate dean of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies in June 2015 and also serves on the University of Michigan Medical School Research Cabinet.

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